Word XP Merge Problem (XP )

We have used a merge-to-printer method of creating year end statements for our church membership for several years. We us a Word merge document and an Excel data source. This is the first year we have tried to use XP, it has always worked well in prior Office versions including 97, 2000, SP-1, and still does. With XP, however, the number (currency) formatting is lost, and we cannot merge directly to the Printer (HPLJ 5Si). Any merge between Word and Excel seems to require we merge to a new document. We solved this year's problem by using a PC with Office 2000, but would like to make XP work "properly" for the future. In addition, we are planning to deploy some new PC's for which we have to buy Office licenses. Is there any compelling reason to go to 2003? Would it solve this type of problem?
Thank you any help!

Re: Word XP Merge Problem (XP )

Word mail merge procedures changed greatly from Word 2000 to Word XP. Word 2003 uses the methodology of Word XP. Why not display the mail merge toolbar in Word XP and then choose merge to printer with the icon on the toolbar. You might also check the data in Excel XP and make sure the formatting is correct. If it is and the merge does not show the $, add it in the Word document to be merged.

My experience is that there is no compelling reason (from the use you described) to upgrade from Office 2000. Changes have been made in Word since Word 2000, but none that scream out to you to upgrade.

Re: Word XP Merge Problem (XP )

Redbeard, thanks for the reply. Yes, the tool bar does show Merge to Printer, but it does not work. Only the Merge to new document works, and it seems an unecessary step to a very large file. Also, we tried putting the dollar sign into the merge document, but the numbers are still fouled up. Does any one think it may be an ODBC vs data source method of merging issue? It is a problem on all our installations of Office XP, so perhaps we need to modify our setups? The same documents, Excel files and printer work fine in Office 2000 SP-1.
Thanks for any input!

Re: Word XP Merge Problem (XP )

5{ for the quick reply ... I'm sure this is just what I need! I tried to access "Cindy's MailMerge FAQ" but the link does not display anything. Thought it might be a good review of issues.
Thanks again for the help, I'll let you know how we do!

Re: Word XP Merge Problem (XP )

Doug,
Thanks for repeating the link ... it was the one I had tried, resulting in a blank page. I ran down the problem in as much as it only happens on my Mac with IE5.2.3. When I switched to Safari, the page displayed normally.
Thanks again for your help, I found the page very informative.

Re: Word XP Merge Problem (XP )

This is very good information and provides me with the exact options my users need. Does anyone know of serious disadvantages to doing the merge via DDE rather than the newer methods? I do not want the merge to blow up later on!

Re: Word XP Merge Problem (XP )

Merge via DDE works fine; the only "issue" is that it uses more memory than ODBC or OLE DB since an instance of Excel is loaded; if your PC has relatively little memory, performance would suffer. But with most recent PC's this will not be a problem.

Re: Word XP Merge Problem (XP )

In addition to Hans' comments, the word on the street is that DDE is significantly slower than ODBC or OLE DB - though it has never really been an issue when we were doing things. It also is supposedly a bit more fragile than other techniquest, but again that hasn't given us trouble.